Recent posts

#1

Games / Re: Could "Turrican" be made b...

Last post by lmimmfn - Today at 03:18

What tricks could you try to enlarge the game window with the same or better framerate?

- Use screen 64 byte in width (32 x 32 characters in MODE 1, but here MODE 0 would probably look more nice)
- Use CRTC characters only 4 scanlines high, or even better only 2 (instead of 8 like usually), this will make the scrolling more smooth, also gives extra time, because less V-RAM needs to be moved.
- instead of having sprites as data, use something like CoData (I use that for Filmemacher). Basically a program which draws the sprite or graphic element on screen. That's more quick compared to copy data.
- Use more RAM, this enables to unroll routines which contain loops. Also a speed up.

And finally: Do a complete rewrite instead of patching / enhancing / bettenering / etc. of an existing program. Alcon 2020 may serve as a well example for that ;-)

Excuse my ignorance but on
"Use CRTC characters only 4 scanlines high, or even better only 2 (instead of 8 like usually), this will make the scrolling more smooth, also gives extra time, because less V-RAM needs to be moved."
How does that make scrolling smooth? The CRTC has a fixed number of cycles to read the ram separately to the Z80, so how does reducing the character scanlines improve performance if its still a full screen(32x32)?
The CRTC is still working outside of the Z80 for screen refresh so I don't understand the comment.

#2

Games / Ranarama level design question

Last post by SharkusMaximus - Today at 02:44

Does anyone know of other games like Ranarama where you initially only see the corridor you're currently in and then the map fills in as you explore?

#3

Amstrad CPC hardware / Re: Gate array decapped!

Last post by dragon - Today at 01:48

Right, but I couldn't find any stock of that chip on the net.

https://www.icompplus.com/es/circuitos-integrados/12619/40010-ic-dip-40-1011944

https://www.icompplus.com/es/circuitos-integrados/32243/40007-ic-dip-40-1030173

Has someone ever ordered them there? If they really have almost 200 40007 and almost 300 40010, why does everybody think there is a shortage of these chips?

Hey eto, no but they are in my city. If it's false I can go to the polygone and give them a good rant with the gx4000 hockey stick 
 
Or I can order something and pick up  in person. But I don't need a gate array. 

#4

Games / Re: Could "Turrican" be made b...

Last post by Devlin - Today at 01:14

The Turrican 2 sprite was blue at the beginning, several years ago i post here Amstrad Action preview of Toki GX4000 and Turrican 2 and the sprite shown at this time was far better.

Ok cool I found the tiny screenshot in Amstrad Action 67. But the best example I could find was very blurry but yeah I could see the player sprite was blue/white rather than the greens of the finished game.  Can anyone provide a higher quality shot perhaps from the real magazine itself?  I'm just curious to see it.

I thought I had it in my little stash of magazines, but I don't, sadly.

#5

Emulators / Re: CPCEC a new emulator from ...

Last post by AmatCoder - Today at 01:02

[...] the most common request is to merge the ROM files within the compiled binaries. It would reduce the amount of visible files, but it would also make the project less OSS-friendly (embedding "blobs", sourceless binaries that cannot be replaced with sourced ones) and damage its customisation (compiling the emulators with the English blobs would hurt users relying on other blobs: French, Spanish, German...)[...]

Hmm, I had not thought about this: Embedding Amstrad ROM files into executable could violate GPLv3 license.

And not just because they are "blobs" but also because, as far as I know,  Amstrad given permission for non-commercial purposes. This is not compatible with GPLv3.

Any thoughts? Am I wrong?


Ps.- I am asking this because I was writing a(nother) GTK port of the CPCEC emulator and I was embedding the Amstrad ROM files into executable

Ps2.- @cngsoft : Thanks you for your work, it's really great!

#6

Amstrad CPC hardware / Re: Gate array decapped!

Last post by eto - Today at 00:29

Right, but I couldn't find any stock of that chip on the net.

https://www.icompplus.com/es/circuitos-integrados/12619/40010-ic-dip-40-1011944

https://www.icompplus.com/es/circuitos-integrados/32243/40007-ic-dip-40-1030173

Has someone ever ordered them there? If they really have almost 200 40007 and almost 300 40010, why does everybody think there is a shortage of these chips?

#7

Amstrad CPC hardware / Re: Gate array decapped!

Last post by dragon - Today at 00:12

Right, but I couldn't find any stock of that chip on the net.

https://www.icompplus.com/es/circuitos-integrados/12619/40010-ic-dip-40-1011944

https://www.icompplus.com/es/circuitos-integrados/32243/40007-ic-dip-40-1030173

#8

Amstrad CPC hardware / Re: Gate array decapped!

Last post by GUNHED - Yesterday at 23:55

Right, but I couldn't find any stock of that chip on the net.

#9

Amstrad CPC hardware / Re: Amstrad CPC WiFi

Last post by GUNHED - Yesterday at 23:54

I'll have a try. Thanks. 

#10

General Discussion - Introductions / Re: Z80 CPC LIBRARY

Last post by Rabs - Yesterday at 23:37

How about these?

• http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/osborne/books/Z80_Assembly_Language_Subroutines_1983.pdf
• https://archive.org/details/understanding-and-expanding-your-amstrad-cpc-464-664-6128-alan-trevennoracme
• https://pestingers.net/pdfs/other-computers/the-z80-microcomputer-handbook-william-barden.pdf

Thanks, will keep my eye out for some old school paper copies. The understanding and expanding your amstrad looks interesting. Project six, the Parallel Transfer Control and the later CPCNET look like a challenge for me. Has anyone recreated any of the projects?